


"Penpals"

by Jonasy



Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: All ships except jaeseong are minor, Alternate Universe - College/University, Florist Taeyang, Fluff, Inseong and Youngbin are best friends, Jaeseong are text buddies, M/M, OT9 - Freeform, Slow Burn, Texting, Zuwoon are inseparable
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 05:51:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16299344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jonasy/pseuds/Jonasy
Summary: Kim Inseong is a 23 years old college student with a secret. He has a weird hobby. Teenage romance dramas. He dreams of a cheesy, perfect love story but so far he has had no luck. In order to get rid of his frustration he decides to call his best friend, but he messes up the number and ends up shouting at a complete stranger instead.Luckily, the guy on the other end, Lee Jaeyoon, only sees the situation as comical. It turns out that the two of them actually have a lot in common, even their weird taste in dramas, and they decide to keep in contact through texts while keeping their identities hidden. A new friendship is born. But will it end at that?





	"Penpals"

**Author's Note:**

> Just some disclaimers/ info :)
> 
> This fanfic is an old idea of mine and the first chapter was written a while ago. Upcomming chapters will hopefully be more well written.
> 
> Since i have no idea how college works (we have a different system here) consider this school system made up lol. Their ages/age gaps are also not accurate jsyk
> 
> Perspective will change between Inseong and Jaeyoon
> 
> Lastly, English is not my first language so bare with me ^^

The ending song was playing loudly, while the credits were rolling down the screen of Inseong's laptop. Behind the names of the all actors and actresses, was a picture of a couple smiling happily at the camera.  
Inseong pushed his round glasses up his nose, and tried to swallow down the bitter taste in his mouth. He had followed this drama for nearly half a year, and now it was over. He knew the characters like if they were his family, and now he could never meet them again. 

That wasn't the only reason he felt down though. That goddamn couple ended up together, and they looked so cute, and perfect, and shit, why didn't he have a love life like that?

Inseong loved romance dramas, and not those melodramatic ones for grown ups, but those who were targeted at adolescent girls. Something a 23 year old guy would not normally enjoy. He had watched countless of cheesy love stories, but he just never got tired of it, even though it made him painfully aware of his lack of love life. 

Truth is, Inseong's experience with love was limited to one girlfriend he had when he was 17, who broke up with him before they even got to second base.

"I swear, I'm a hopeless case! Why can't I just get a damn girlfriend!?"

Inseong grabbed a pillow from his bed and threw it against his wall, in an attempt to release his frustration, but it didn't work.

He then decided to do what he always did when he felt down; call his best friend, Youngbin, to rant about his worries. They'd known each other since middle school, and they could always talk to each other whenever they needed help, but Inseong suspected that Youngbin was starting to get a bit tired of his constant rants about wanting a girlfriend.

He walked over to his desk and picked his phone up.

"Right, fuck. I have yet to transfer the contacts", Inseong hissed to himself, as he remembered. He'd bought a new phone just yesterday, and lazy as he was, he hadn't transferred anything from his old phone yet, including his contacts.

Luckily for Inseong, he knew Youngbin's phone number as well as if it was his own. He quickly typed the numbers into his phone, but stopped at the last digit. Wait, did it end with a 4 or a 2? 

"Shit, I really thought i knew this"  
'It's 2 right? It has to be', he thought before hitting the button, and pressing 'call'.

Three signals went by, before the call connected. At that point all worries about the phone number had left Inseong's mind. Now, he just wanted to rant.

"Hel-", the person at the other end answered, but he was quickly cut off.

"Youngbiiiin, why the fuck am I so lonely!? Why can't I just get a girlfriend already!? At this point I'll die alone! Can't you set me up with someone or something, shit!", Inseong shouted into the phone, not caring whether he caused his friend to go deaf.

He stopped screaming to catch his breath, and to let Youngbin answer. Not that he really could help Inseong with this, since he himself didn't really have great luck with the ladies.

"Um... Sorry, what?", the voice on the other side said confused.

Inseong froze. That didn't sound like Youngbin at all. Maybe he was just playing a prank on him, altering his voice, just to mess with him.

"Youngbin...?", Inseong asked, voice slightly shaking, silently praying to all the gods he knew of, that the person he had just shouted at, was indeed his best friend.

"I'm sorry, but my name is not Youngbin. You must have called the wrong number", the now confirmed stranger answered softly, trying to hold his laughter back.

Inseong had to sit down on his bed to keep himself from collapsing on the floor. He had really just shouted about his love life at a complete stranger. 

"Um, sorry...", he felt his cheeks heat up in embarrassment, "I thought you were my friend. Or, um, I tried to call my friend, but i must have messed up the number or something. I'm so sorry, goodbye"

Inseong sighed and removed the phone from his ear and was just about to hang up, when the guy stopped him.

"Hey, wait a second!"

Inseong hesitantly put his phone back against his ear.

"Yeah...", he answered nervously. What if this stranger was mad at him now. I mean he wouldn’t blame him if he was, but he didn't want to get beaten up, even if that was impossible in this situation.

"This really cheered me up, so thank you! Mind talking for a bit? I think you kinda owe me that after nearly ruining my eardrums", the guy said happily, and Inseong's mouth fell open in shock.  
This person really wasn't even irritated. He even seemed happy about getting shouted at, and thought it was funny. What kind of weird human being?

"Um, sure, we can talk. Why though?", Inseong answered after collecting himself from the shock, still utterly confused about the situation.

"Ah well, you seem like a funny guy, and I have nothing to do right now, so It'd be nice to talk to someone", he giggled, "My name is Lee Jaeyoon by the way. What's yours"

"Oh, my name is Kim Inseong. Nice to meet you"

"Nice to meet you too Inseong. You seem kinda desperate for a girlfriend, why is that?", Jaeyoon asked mockingly.

Inseong, who had just started to calm down, blushed furiously again with the reminder of his embarrassing shouting. He covered his eyes with his left hand in a failed attempt to forget about the whole thing, before answering.

"No, It's nothing really. I just finished this drama and got jealous of the lead couple's relationship", he laughed in embarrassment. God, why was he admitting this to a stranger. This would make him appear even more pathetic, wouldn’t it. He sighed, cursing his honest mouth.

"Been there, done that. What drama? I watch a lot, so I might have seen it"

Wait, he didn’t think of him as a pathetic failure? “Been there, done that”? He could relate?

"You probably haven't even heard of it. It's not that well known, and not something a guy would usually watch", Inseong nearly whispered. So far, Youngbin was the only one who knew about his odd taste in drama, and he didn't really want to admit it to anyone else, since he was more than a bit ashamed of it.

"Oh why? What genre is it?"

He quickly debated whether or not to tell Jaeyoon the truth, but decided just to go with it, since they would never meet anyway.

"Um, romance I guess. It's kinda aimed at girls, so most guys wouldn't watch it, you know", he said silently, and looked down at the floor, asking himself why he had just outed yet another embarrassing secret to this stranger.

"What, really? I love romance dramas. In fact I just finished watching one called 'Penpals'", Jaeyoon answered excitedly, and for the second time now, Inseong's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"Are you kidding me? 'Penpals' is the drama I was talking about! I thought no one knew about it"  
At this point Inseong was nearly shouting again, but this time in excitement instead of frustration.

"Seriously? I didn't think there were any other guys out there who watched it", Jaeyoon said, and the surprise was obvious in his voice.

"Same here! We're probably the only ones", Inseong laughed. This was just so unbelievable. He'd just called the wrong number, and now he had found someone who shared his very odd interest. "How old are you by the way?"

“Oh, I’m 22”, Jaeyoon answered, “Junior in university”

Inseong had thought he was younger, because of his bright voice, and cheerful attitude, but he was glad that wasn’t the cause, cause now they could talk more comfortably.

“Then we’re not too far apart in age. I’m 23, and doing my last year in university”, Inseong answered in a more relaxed tone than before.

“Oh what are you majoring in? I'm a music major myself”, Jaeyoon chirped at the other end of the line.

“Is this for real? Are we long lost twins or something? I'm also majoring in music”

He couldn't believe it. This call was just supposed to be a mistake, but it seemed more like a fated meeting at this point. He thought he'd never find someone with the same weird interests as him, and here he was, talking to a stranger who could as well be his clone or something. It nearly sounded like something from one of his dramas. 

“That's insane”, Jaeyoon giggled, “I don't want to sound like a creep, but is it okay if I saved your number? It would be nice to have a friend with the same interests”

Inseong agreed, “We could be text buddies! I've always wanted one”

“Me too, like in “Penpals” but over phone”, the other answered, referring to the main couple of the drama who only knew each other through letters.

Inseong laughed at the reference.  
“I guess I don't need to be jealous of the drama anymore then”, he joked and he heard Jaeyoon giggle at the other end. 

“Right! You have me now”, he chirped back. 

After agreeing that they should keep in contact, Jaeyoon had to hang up.  
He told Inseong that he really wanted to talk more but he had an essay due tomorrow, that he had been putting off, in order to watch the final episode of “Penpals”. 

In all honesty, Inseong should be studying as well, but as the procrastinator he was, he simply couldn’t be bothered.  
Instead he took his time to add Jaeyoon’s number as a contact. 

Who would have thought that his stupid, accidental phone call would end up with him getting a new friend. This really was a great turn of events. On top of that, he'd gotten the distraction he needed, no longer feeling as lonely anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!
> 
> The second chapter will hopefully be up soon :)
> 
> Comments are always very much appreciated <3


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